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I wrote the following to a new acquaintance:
If you think that you have trouble reading the tealeaves… trust me, all the information in the world can’t help you when you throw human beings and their contradictory natures into the pot. Dear… the OCA is going down. Nobody knows the “how” or the “when”… none of us do. However, we all know that it “is” going down.
You see… Russia is the Centre of the Orthosphere… the Orthodox “civilisational bloc”, to use Sergei Solovyov‘s term (he was the father of the famous Vladimir Solovyov). Samuel P Huntington filched Solovyov’s thesis and published it in English as The Clash of Civilisations. The Orthosphere not only has a different faith from the West, it has a different ethos and cultural imperative. Most converts don’t understand this and think that they can “excise” the religion and graft it onto the Western tree. Unfortunately, that’s not possible. If you join Orthodoxy, then, a “new world” must grow in your mind. You must become “a citizen of the Orthosphere resident in the West”. All too many Westerners can’t make the leap. For instance, Orthodoxy is highly existential and experiential… it focuses on individuals rather than laws (the papists are the exact opposite). This is foreign to the Western mind. Besides that, it thrives on contradiction… we are the most Zen-like set in all Christendom.
I could go on for hours, but I don’t have the time, dear. Nevertheless, I’ve opened the door for you… but I’m not perfect, nor am I important. I’m not a guru or mistress… I’m a companion on the way. God willing, you can accept that.
It’s not an easy road… it’s not short… but no one who hasn’t made it to the New Shore can speak for us. THAT’S why I oppose Freddie, Dreher, Mattingly, and Reardon… they’ve refused to convert in their heart-of-hearts, “in their soul”, as we Russians say. That’s not only sad… it was all avoidable. However, what’s done is done, and I fear that those named are warped permanently. We must oppose them speaking for us… they’re not of us. Nasty world we live in, isn’t it? Pass me the jug…
BMD
Voices from Russia 
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